SPOTLIGHT ON SAFETY: THE WEATHERPROOFING WAY

As experts in providing appropriate health and safety measures for roofing work, we can advise and implement safe roof access systems for buildings of all different sizes and roof types.

Buildings used for commercial or industrial purposes will at some point require work to be carried out on the roof – whether that’s short durational work, such as roof surveys or inspections, or longer term work such as roof maintenance or roof refurbishment work. However long the work takes, the risks when accessing roof areas are substantial. Any fall from a height, whether that be from the roof, access ladder or scaffolding, can result in a life changing, debilitating injury or, even worse, a fatality. Many serious injuries and fatalities have been recorded in the construction industry which relate to short duration visits such as roof surveys and inspections where scaffolding is not in place.

Short-duration work

Short-duration work means tasks that are measured in minutes rather than hours such as roof inspections. Although it may not be reasonably practicable to provide full edge protection for short-duration work, you are however required to provide something in its place. The minimum requirements for short-duration work on a roof are:

A safe means of access to the roof level

A safe means of working on the roof

Weatherproofing advisors can work with clients to identify safe roof access solutions for short term roof work that are tailored to a building’s specific requirements and structure and are complicit with current regulations and safety laws.

Working Safely doesn’t happen by Accident

As with all traditional forms of access and provisions for providing a safe working environment at height the costs when carrying out a roof survey can be disproportionally high. Weatherproofing Advisors are continually exploring new innovations to alleviate the risk to their employees, especially those associated with ‘Short Duration’ works, specifically roof inspections.

Such services provided by Weatherproofing Advisors include:

The pole camera – ideal for the inspection of properties and roofs as you are able to reach the perimeter of all two and many three story properties. The pole camera has an extremely fast setup time – it takes around one minute to extend the pole and see the imagery on the screen at ground level.

UAV Aerial Surveys – using the latest in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), a complete roof survey including detailed, high quality images can be done without any personnel needing to access the roof. Find out more:

For more information or to find out how we can advise you on your own roof safety systems, contact us.